A variable pressure gas rail injector pressure means is described by Willi in U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,857, as applied to direct injection, glow ignited natural gas engines. Here variable gas rail pressure is generated by an electronically modulated diesel injection pump that applies high pressure diesel fuel to the control side of a dome loaded regulator to produce correspondingly high, unamplified variable gas injection near TDC to optimize variable pressure direct injection.
Laing and Prichard in Canadian patent CA1203132 describe a duel fuel diesel engine, utilizing variably reduced hydraulic pressure in a servo circuit bled from the diesel injection pump and controlled by a centrifugal governor which variably pressurizes the control or load chamber of a gas regulator with diesel fuel in typical dome load fashion, to provide variable gas fuel pressure to a diesel engine air intake.
Bickley in U.S. Pat. No. 7,178,335 describes a spool valve hydraulic pressure regulator with variable output pressure controlled by a hydraulic load chamber augmented by an internal load spring whose compressive force is varied by an abutting moveable piston adjustable by means of a separate hydraulic actuating chamber contiguous with the end of the piston opposite the spring.
McMahon and O'Halloran in U.S. Pat. No. 7,922,833 describe an invention utilizing a hydraulic cylinder attached to a gas regulator that contains a piston displaceable against a point on a flexible regulator pressure sensing diaphragm for the purpose of varying the tension within the diaphragm in order to vary the pressure of the outflowing gas flowing into a deburring thermal energy machine (TEM.) Variable regulator outflow pressure is here determined by varying the tension of the flexible diaphragm, as opposed to the present invention, where variable hydraulic servo pressure acting through an amplifying piston-pushrod structure upon a regulator pressure sensing piston is the regulator load controlling element as opposed to variable tension within a regulator sensing diaphragm.
Multiple variable pressure regulator control means including pneumatic, hydraulic, mechanical, electric and electro-hydraulic are cited in the ECU controlled variable gas pressure system of King in U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,999. A detailed description is provided describing a variable pressure pneumatic regulator actuator embodiment in this specification, but only general reference is made to other variable hydraulic pressure regulator biasing means in the claims, with no details provided in the specification.
Douville, Noble, Baker, Tran and Touchette describe a dual fuel diesel direct injection system in U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,833 having one injector that injects both a gaseous main charge and a diesel fuel pilot ignition charge into the engine cylinder, and where a dome loaded regulator directly senses diesel pilot injector fuel pressure, and regulates the main gaseous fuel charge at an equal or slightly lower output pressure, to maintain a positive seal between the gas and liquid fuels within the injector.
Post and Brook in Pub. No. US2006/0213488 A1 describe a variable pressure direct gas injection system that includes a hydraulic dome loaded regulator that contains a spring biased flow control valve where the hydraulic load fluid acts against the bias spring to vary gas injector fuel pressure (in a manner similar to McMahon and O'Halloran.) The hydraulic load fluid may consist of diesel pilot fuel and here is always approximately equal to or higher than the regulator outflow gas pressure to avoid gas leakage into the diesel load control fluid.
Ancimer, Batenburg and Thompson in U.S. Pat. No. 7,463,967 present a variable pressure, direct supersonic gas injection control system utilizing a single injector for both the diesel pilot and the main gaseous fuels. This also includes a dome loaded regulator that maintains almost equal pressure within the gas and the liquid portions of the injector to insure an effective seal between the two fluids.
Palma in U.S. Pat. No. 6,626,150 and Dokas, Pyle and Yu in U.S. Pat. No. 7,624,720 describe electromagnetically controlled gasoline type regulators.
Hashemi in U.S. Pat. No. 7,140,354 reveals a means for depressurizing a gaseous fuel injector supply rail with a pump that pumps excess gas from the fuel rail back upstream into either the gas supply tank or to a point upstream of one of the pressure reducing regulators that feed the fuel rail. This pumping means is controlled by an ECU for the purpose of maintaining rail pressures compatible with the operating characteristics of gaseous fuel injectors.
The present invention is differentiated from prior art by its' ability to safely utilize low pressure, volatile spark ignitable fuels as a hydraulic regulator servo pressure fluid to produce an amplified, high pressure fuel supply from a gas regulator. The present servo amplifying means differs from conventional dome loaded regulators in that the pressurized servo fluid is mechanically isolated and amplified by the piston-pushrod structure, which moves to block orifices in the present hydraulic amp communicating with the vehicle fuel system in response to a high pressure leak from the gas regulator.
The presently described electronic cylinder cutoff and fuel pressure sensing throttle control means obviate the need for the pump dependent, high pressure fuel rail de-pressurizing means described in Hashemi.
The present invention is applicable to bi-fuel and dual-fuel internal combustion engines that utilize gaseous and liquid fuels either simultaneously or individually. It is aimed at dealing with the limited response characteristics of high pressure solenoid type gaseous fuel injectors when activated by present 12 volt petrol (gasoline) engine control units (ECU's,) where the injectors are synchronized to the speed, or RPM of the engine. To compensate for the larger volumes of gaseous fuel required to deliver the equivalent energy of gasoline, gaseous (gas) injectors operate under higher pressures, with larger, heavier moving valve components as compared to petrol type injectors. This can result in minimum open/close cycle periods twice as long as those of their petrol counterparts. At low speed idle power with a static, high fuel rail pressure necessary for maximum power, the gas injector can fail to fully open in response to short ECU commanded voltage pulse widths. Minimum open cycle periods for solenoid gas injectors are typically around 4 milliseconds. At idle with a static gas fuel rail pressure that can meet the engines full operating power range, the ECU may command an injector open pulse width far less than 4 milliseconds. The injector may thus fail to respond fast enough to these short open signals, resulting in inconsistent fuel delivery, roughness and excessive emissions.
Where fuel injectors are typically synchronized by the ECU to cycle with engine RPM, low engine speeds allow more time for the injector to more accurately meter fuel. By lowering fuel supply pressure at idle speeds the injector can remain open longer, allowing more accurate response to the ECU. However when fuel demand increases with speed and the available injector cycle time decreases, a variably higher pressure fuel rail supply then becomes necessary to avoid fuel starvation.